In a minority, but not alone

Dr Bawaskar, in his two pieces in the last two issues of the journal, has briefly shared with us his principled, ethical conduct in his clinical professional work (1, 2). I am writing this to say that he is not alone. There is a small but significant section of doctors who have been keeping away from the lures of drug companies and other medical companies, and trying to do justice to their patients. What is needed is that such doctors should keep in touch with each other, share their experiences, and act together, whenever there is such a chance, to oppose unethical practices.

One blatantly unethical practice is being promoted currently by the NORMA company, which sells compression stockings for varicose veins etc. A flier by this company offers doctors one Parker pen for every ‘client’ brought by the doctor to the company. This flier announces

“Write a NORMA prescription worth Rs. 500/- get a parker pen worth Rs. 50/- free. Send us the prescribed patient’s order form along with a D.D. of the appropriate amount.”

What can we do collectively to stop this practice? The first step is to appeal doctors through various professional journals not to be party to this ‘trade-off’. Second, some of us can jointly write to the concerned company that it should stop this unethical marketing. If we can get some well-known doctors to sign this letter, it will have more impact.

The address of the company is Norma DND Products, Norma Complex, DDA Market J-Block, Vikas Puri, New Delhi 110 018 Fax : 91-11-552 1239, E-mail: [email protected]